1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resist pattern thickening material, which is applied onto a resist pattern to be thickened and thickens the resist pattern to be thickened, and which can form a fine space pattern by exceeding exposure limits of light sources of existing exposure devices (“space pattern” is hereby defined as a hole, trench, recess, or any other empty space that is formed by a developed (removed) resist). The present invention also relates to a process for forming a resist pattern and a process for manufacturing a semiconductor device, which use the resist pattern thickening material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor integrated circuits are becoming more highly integrated, and LSIs and VLSIs are being put into practical use. Accompanying this trend, the wiring patterns extend to regions of 0.2 μm or less, and the smallest patterns extend to regions of 0.1 μm or less. A lithographic technique is extremely important in forming fine wiring patterns. In the lithographic technique, a substrate, on which a thin film is formed, is covered by a resist film, is selectively exposed, and thereafter, is developed so as to form a resist pattern. Etching is carried out by using the resist pattern as a mask, and thereafter, by removing the resist pattern, the desired pattern is obtained.
In forming a fine wiring pattern, it is necessary to both make the light source of the exposure device be a short wavelength, and to newly develop resist materials which have high resolution and is suitable to the characteristics of the light source. However, in order to make a light source of an exposure device be a short wavelength, it is necessary to update the exposure device, which results in very high costs. Further, the development of new resist materials which is suitable to exposure using short wavelength light sources is not easy. Accordingly, the current situation is that there has not yet been provided a technique which can use light as the light source of an exposure device at the time of patterning, and which can form with high detail a uniform and fine space pattern.